Day 10 - The end!

Qumran

Our last day in Israel was a busy one, filled with lots of very famous sites. The first we went to was Qumran, which is where they found the Dead Sea Scrolls. On our way there, I saw my first desert. Pretty much blew my mind.

When we got there, we learned about the community of men who lived there and worked in copying the scrolls. The photo below shows one of the caves where the scrolls were found.

Masada

Where do you even begin with the story of Masada? Masada is a site in the middle of the desert where Herod (“The Builder King”) decided he wanted to build a fortress/city on top of a mountain. And I really mean a mountain. We took a cable car to get there. This climb put Lehigh to shame (though I do think APG should look into getting cable cars to run from Brodhead to the UC for me next year :P ).

After somehow miraculously building this fortress, it gets taken over by a group of Jewish extremists. Their reign doesn’t last long, though, because two years later, Masada is surrounded by Roman forces. They built a giant ramp up one side of the mountain to the fortress and used a battering ram to break in. Legend has it that when they got there, they found that everything was set on fire and that all the inhabitants had committed a mass suicide. There is very little evidence of this, though, so it is often treated as a myth.

I included the photo above just to give more of an idea of the type of terrain that Masada was built on.

Dead Sea

I would argue that going to the Dead Sea was probably the most touristy thing we did in Israel. It was also super fun. We covered ourselves in mud, floated in the Dead Sea (yes, you really float!), and then took sulfur baths. Not a whole ton to say about it, but I’m very glad I experienced it. Never in my life did I think I would swim in the Dead Sea before I even got to the Pacific. :P

Dinner in Abu Ghosh

On our way to the airport, we went back through Jerusalem and had dinner at Abu Ghosh, which is the oldest Muslim neighborhood in Jerusalem. Way back in the day, the neighborhood acted as a giant toll booth, charging everyone who passed through on their way to Jerusalem from Jaffa. Dinner itself was great—lots of different things to choose from, and officially my last felafel and hummus in Israel. I also had chicken and tried a bit of lamb. Perhaps most of all, I miss the awesome pita/breads they have at every meal.

The End

And so ends my trip to Israel. We had our flight back to Newark from Ben-Gurion, and after a slight delay all went as planned. I slept for the majority of the flight, which probably explains why my jet lag was never that bad at home after the first day (a few mornings waking up at 5am, but it wasn’t awful).

I think it’s only fitting to end my official account of my trip with this guy…

Israel: Flight and Day 1

Newark to Ben Gurion Airport (Tel Aviv) via El Al Airlines:

Getting in and out of the airports went pretty smoothly. Lloyd and Seth, our professors and advisers, warned us that it’s likely the most intense airport security we’ll ever have to go through. They asked a bunch more questions than at any airport security I’ve ever been through before, and two of our students got detained between security and boarding. One of them was one of my roommates here (my roommates are Rachel and Alissa), and she said that they basically just checked their carry ons personally, swabbed their shoes, patted them down, and then let them sit and watch TV. They weren’t allowed to come back out and sit with us, but they were on the plane when we boarded.

On the plane, it was set up like my flight to England my senior year of high school, with three rows of three people each. I was in the very middle of the middle row, but I was sitting between Rachel and Alissa, so it was fine. These are the two girls I knew before the trip, so I’m glad I got paired up with them, and they’ve both also been to Israel before: this is Alissa’s third trip and Rachel’s sixth or seventh. Yes, they’re both Jewish.

The plane ride was really long. England/Scotland and Ireland were about six hour flights, and this was around ten and a half. I didn’t sleep nearly as well as I wanted to, even though I was reading and listening to calm music and even had a glass of wine. I couldn’t stay asleep for more than half an hour at a time. I did read the entirety of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, though, which was exciting.

Tel Aviv to Jerusalem via MayaTour bus:

Once we landed in Tel Aviv, we had to drive to Jerusalem. As it figures, it’s absolutely pouring out. The rain is so bad. Figures I’d go to a desert country and it would rain. Also, it rains so rarely, that the Israeli people aren’t very good at driving in the rain. There was an accident ahead of us, so the rip took a bit longer than expected. In Jerusalem, though, we were going to go right to the Israel Museum, but Rachel got motion sick on the bus. She threw up a few times, and we took her to the hotel so she could rest for the day. I think between motion sickness from the flight and the bus and being over tired, her body just couldn’t keep up. After we dropped her off, we went to the museum.

It was pretty neat. We learned about the history of Jerusalem, the stages of Jewish life, different style synagogues, and the Dead Sea Scrolls.

This photo is a model of Jerusalem in the era of the second temple (when Jesus was around). King Herod had it built.

This is a picture of the tabernacle from a synagogue in Italy that they uprooted and brought to this museum. I got yelled at after taking pictures in there, so I didn’t take any more.

This is the room where they house some parts of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

We then had an hour to go look around on our own, but just about everyone fell asleep on benches near the cafe in the museum. It was pretty rough. I felt guilty for not exploring more, but I was starting to feel sick and knew I needed the rest.

The Park Hotel in Jerusalem:

Ohhhh hotels… or should I call this a dorm? It’s definitely not like the kind of hotel I expected. We were also a little shocked because even though there are three of us in this room, there were only two twin beds. We’ve been having quite the fun time calling the reception desk. First for our extra bed, then for a third towel for me… and then for towels again because they never came. It’s been a blast.

Israeli Food:

Dinner at the hotel was good. I wish I had taken a picture of it. I didn’t realize hummus was so popular in Israel. They serve it with just about every meal (we even got it in our meals on the plane), and it is SO good. They serve it with fresh rolls which are super fluffy. I’m kind of in love. The rest of the food is good too. I feel like they eat so very much healthier than we do in America. There are so many vegetable and fruit options all the time, and not just a lettuce salad. For dinner, I had what I am pretty sure was really tender chicken, small baby potatoes, a cucumber and dill salad, mixed steamed vegetables, rice (which was the only thing I really didn’t like), and of course hummus and a roll.

Final Session: Gershom Gorenberg

Our speaker was Gershom Gorenberg, who is a well-known historian and journalist who writes about Israel and Israeli/Palestinian politics. He talked to us about the history of the Temple Mount, which is the site where God supposedly sent Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac. Abraham was going to do it, and God sent an angel to stop him right in time, and because of Abraham’s great faith in God and willingness to sacrifice his only son, he was named the father of the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), and God said his descendents would be as many as the stars in the sky and the sand on the shore (or something like that). Because this story is so important to all three religions, they each want to stake claim to the Temple Mount (also known as Mount Moriah). He went into more depth, but overall he was an engaging figure and helped make the information more easily accessible to us rather than reading dry texts about it. Toward the end it was rough, though, because the room got really warm and we’re all exhausted still.

We went to bed by 10:30ish, even though we had napped earlier before dinner. We’ve been exhausted the whole trip. It just takes a while to adjust, because of the 7 hour time difference.